Summer's Tangled In Your Hair
by CryingInsideOut
Summary: AU. "Ino, I think I'll take you up on the summer road trip offer." In which Sakura and Ino take a road trip and complete their list of things to do without a care in the world.
1. Prologue: We Own The Night

**Title: **Summer's Tangled In Your Hair

**Summary: **AU. "Ino, I think I'll take you up on the summer road trip offer."

In which Sakura and Ino take a road trip and complete their list of things to do without a care in the world.

**Rating: **T/Pg-13

**Pairing(s): **sasusaku, very minor naruino

**Disclaimer: Naruto and associated characters are not a property of mine. I just merely own the plot of this story.**

* * *

{_**P**_rologue: _**W**_e _**O**_wn _**T**_he _**N**_ight}

_"We can do whatever be whoever we like. Spend the weekend dancing 'cause we sleep when we die. Don't have to worry 'bout nothing; we own the night."_

_-We Own The Night, Selena Gomez_

**x**

**Ino and Sakura's List of Things to Do Before College Starts**

**By **_**Sakura**_** and Ino **

**(With a few commentaries from the both of us!):**

**1. I would love to at least bleach my hair or dye it! Squee! **_(Ino! How cute would it be to like bleach your hair a royal blue? But not all your hair, just a few strands like highlights? It would go well with your blonde hair.) _**(Dude! That would be such a cute color! Nice idea Forehead!)**

_2. I must fold at least a thousand cranes before school starts._ **(Pfffft. Dork.) **_(Do you want our college dorm to be decorative or not?) _**(…Yes…)**

**3. Have a water fight with cute boys while washing a car. (; **_(Cliche much, Ino?) _**(A girl can dream, dammit!)**

_4. I must learn how to cook! _**(I agree with this one. Your cooking is horrible!) **_('Eff you!) _**(But you can make a mean plate of fudge brownies! Hey can you make me some now?)**

**5. Go stargazing and camp out at the beach with my gurllllll. **_(This actually sounds like fun.) _**(Kekeke.)**

_6. Stay up all night watching chick flicks with Piggy!_ **(Don't we do this like every week?) **_(Hah! No big deal.)_

**7. GO ON A SUMMER ROAD TRIP! OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG. **_(Yes! With my car! We can drive with the convertible top down!) _**(Ilyyyyyyyy)**

_8. Stop by every summer fair and festival in the cities we visit. _**(Stuffing our faces with popcorn, cotton candy, and candy apples… Sounds fattening, but yum!) **_(That is, if we ever even go on a road trip.) _**(The hell you talking about? I'm gonna do this even if you don't want to come with me!)**

**9. Go skinny dipping! d fadf;lkfladfjlaf! **_(At midnight!)_

_10. Find summer romance._ **(Amen, Forehead. We shall never be forever alone ever again!)**

**xx**

"Don't you dare rip that off your locker door!"

Sakura Haruno jumped startled and banged her head against the top of the metal part of her locker. She let out a hushed curse as she whipped around to face Ino Yamanaka. The blonde gave Sakura a playful yet stern look before stepping forward to carefully peel a colorfully decorated poster off Sakura's locker door.

"This," Ino shoved the poster closer towards the roseate woman's face before snapping her hands back, "is our sacred poster with our oh so wonderful ideas that we must follow!"

"Relax Pig; I wasn't going to even throw that away in the first place."

Ino gave her best friend a snort before carefully rolling up said sacred poster and stuffing it inside her empty purple tote bag.

"Can you believe it? We're starting college next year and we still haven't done anything from the list yet. Well actually, I started on number four but only made one." As if to prove her statement, Sakura reached in her locker to pull out a crushed origami paper that was folded into a deformed crane.

"That's 'cause we were always so busy cramming half the textbooks in our heads. Stupid Iruka-sensei just _had_ to make a big deal about Finals and scare the shit out of people." Ino rolled her cornflower blue eyes and flicked a piece of her long platinum blonde hair over her shoulder. Sakura gave a soft giggle before turning back around to finish getting rid of a few forgotten homework assignments, a few doodles, and a limited edition Cranberry Sharpie Sakura had thought she lost. At the last minute, she scribbled on a post-it before throwing the marker in her messenger bag; it was still full of ink.

"Phew! Four years with locker 210 and now I'm finally parting ways with it. I hope you treat whatever incoming freshman with the same difficulty I had in opening you." Sakura scanned the inside of her locker one last time with her shamrock eyes before slamming it shut. Ino grinned and linked arms with Sakura. As soon as the roseate slipped her messenger bag on, the two walked towards the cafeteria.

It was the last day of school, and to most seniors including Ino and Sakura themselves, they had to spend the rest of the day practicing for the graduation ceremony. Every student in Konoha High was given the entire thirty minutes of homeroom to rid their locker of any trash before going directly to their first period class. But of course since Sakura and Ino were seniors, they had the ceremony practice instead of playing cards or video games in classes like all the other lower grade levels.

The two girls slipped through the cafeteria doors and quickly but silently slid into the two nearest chairs in the back. Most of the seniors were already seated and were waiting impatiently for Iruka to take roll call. The cafeteria was loud and lively; everyone seemed to be happy to graduate. Their principal Sarutobi had joked that it was a miracle that everyone had graduated. Apparently there were always seniors getting expelled for getting caught being stoned or whatnot.

"Oh my god! Forehead!" Sakura eyed her friend and mumbled a quick "stop hitting me" before Ino actually stopped slapping her in the arm.

"What the hell is Temari-bitch doing to Shikamaru? Holy crap! Is she trying to suck his uvula out or what?" Sakura couldn't help but suppress the laugh threatening to leak out. She couldn't help if her best friend was so paranoid.

Ino and Shikamaru had dated when they were in their junior year. Since Ino was head cheerleader, this automatically made her popular, and Shikamaru being the intelligent yet lazy genius, the two were one of the most popular couples in Konoha High. Unfortunately, things went rocky in their relationship when Temari started to flirt with Shikamaru and Ino got tired of his "women are so troublesome" attitude. Towards the end of the year, Ino had decided (with the supportive help from Sakura) that she would dump him.

"Ino, you were the one who broke up with him so who cares if Temari is trying to give Shikamaru mononucleosis?"

"Hey! I'm a girl if you haven't noticed, and girls are highly sensitive even when we are the ones to break up with boys." Ino sniffed and gave Sakura a glare before adding, "Thank you very much for your support, Forehead!"

Before Sakura had a chance to reply, Iruka cleared his throat and commanded that everyone be quiet. When there were still a few boys who didn't really give a crap about graduation (they weren't even going to bother to go to college), Iruka yelled a quick "shut the hell up!" which worked. Everyone silenced immediately. It wasn't everyday where Iruka lost his cool and actually yelled.

"High school graduation only comes once in a lifetime, so you should all be proud that you're graduating! Today will be our only day to rehearse for the graduation ceremony, and I'm pretty sure you all want to be done within the first try because it's going to ninety-six degrees out today." There were a few groans and someone even yelled what suspiciously sounded like "go to hell!". Ignoring the protests, Iruka continued on nonetheless.

"Tomorrow's graduation and your parents and family are invited, but remember; only three people from each party will be allowed to go. We just don't have enough space this year for everyone to bring twenty people a party. You will all receive complimentary three tickets when you line up roll call order." It was Ino's turn to groan. Having Yamanaka as your last name meant being near the end of the line, which meant you were almost always last when it came to roll call order.

"And now lastly, the Student Council has officially booked the local night club for your graduation after party!"

"Hell yeah! Beer pong!" Iruka gave the senior sitting in the front a glare before clearing his throat and continuing.

"As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted, your graduation after party will be held at the night club on the same day as your graduation. The after party will begin at twelve o' clock in the morning and will last all day if you're up for it. Before I forget, there will be no beer or alcohol whatsoever in the after party." Majority of the room groaned while Iruka glanced at his students with disbelief. His students were drinking underage? Man, this generation is so messed up.

"We should spike the punch if we're not allowed to have alcohol." Sakura snorted as she heard a few people next to her whispering their plans. She wondered if Iruka had ever seen such a rebellious senior class before.

"Alright! Everyone get in line in front of me once I call your name!"

**xxx**

"Ouch! I swear I got sunburn from this afternoon!" Ino moaned and touched her arm delicately. Her normally peachy skin was tinted with a faint shade of red.

"I told you to wear a sweater." Sakura shrugged and skillfully pulled her red convertible into her driveway. The two girls were going to spend the night at Sakura's house. Scratch that, Sakura's mansion. The Harunos weren't necessarily the richest in town (okay, second richest since the Hyuugas were the richest), but since Sakura's father was an architect, he had designed their own house. Sakura's mother had died giving birth to her, but Sakura was told by her father that her parents had loved each other very much.

Ino gave a snort before responding to Sakura, "Only you would wear a sweater and jeans to school." And it was true. Almost all the girls at their high school wore skirts, shorts, and dresses. Sakura was one of the few girls who didn't bother to dress up for school. It was school after all, not a fashion show. But of course Sakura had no grudge against skirts or even shorts; she actually loves shorts to be honest. It's just that after spending almost her entire lifetime with her father, she was more of a daddy's girl and not that girly since her mother wasn't around to force her into dresses.

"We're ho–oh my god." Sakura gaped at her brother once she threw her keys on the nearby kitchen island. Sitting on the nearby table was her brother Sasori, who was heatedly making out with his girlfriend. Ino popped her head from behind Sakura and had to slap her hand over her mouth to keep herself from squealing (okay, so she had a slight crush on her best friend's brother, and watching him kissing was hot as hell). Sasori, finally taking notice in his younger sister and her friend, pulled away and gave them a lazy smile all while trying to keep his breathing even.

"Welcome home, little sister and her friend." Ino giggled and waved before walking towards the fridge to find herself an ice pop. The Harunos apparently had everything ranging from ice cream to frozen pizza to even flan in their fridge; basically the Harunos had an endless supply of good food which Ino had no problem with. Endless snacks and drinks meant pigging out as much as she wanted to.

"Oh my god, Sasori. Can't you and Nariko go suck faces somewhere else?" Sasori chuckled while Nariko gave Sakura a meek hello, which Sakura returned.

"Don't worry little sister; I was just about to bring Nariko home." And to prove his statement, he grabbed his girlfriend's hand before grabbing his car keys in the other hand.

"Bye Sakura-chan, Ino-chan." Nariko gave one last smile before following her boyfriend out the front door. After making sure the two had officially left the house, Sakura rolled her eyes before joining Ino in rummaging through her fridge.

"Sasori is such a creep. I bet he was making out with Nariko just to rub the fact that he's in a relationship in my face."

"Dude, you can't be serious. Sasori is _so_ cute, what the hell are you talking about Forehead?" Ino tiptoed as she reached her hand further back to find the box of Popsicle she had witnessed a maid storing it there a few days ago. "Besides, I wouldn't blame him at all. You haven't had a relationship since like, tenth grade."

"Okay, I'm going to let that comment slide because you're my best friend." After pulling a Coke out of the fridge and Ino finally finding the cherry flavor of the Popsicle, the two headed up the stairs and towards Sakura's room.

"Oh, take the extra ticket before I forget." Sakura pulled out a slightly bent ticket and handed it to Ino who shoved it in her tote.

"So what are you gonna wear to the after party?" Ino suddenly jumped up from Sakura's bed and skipped over to her walk-in closet. The blonde disappeared as she walked in through the doors to reach the dresses Sakura had stored deep in the big closet that once used to be a separate bathroom. When Sakura was a mere freshmen, and of course, all freshmen just had to have a big closet to hold all their clothes (now Sakura realized how stupid she sounded when all she usually wore were jeans and a sweater), she had begged her father to demolish the bathroom next door and turn it into a walk-in closet. After noticing his daughter was never going to give up, he finally agreed since Sakura had a connecting bathroom to her room and another bathroom next door just didn't make any sense like it used to when he had first designed the mansion.

"I don't know. It doesn't have to be really fancy, right? What about you?" There was a muffled response, and Sakura followed the noise. The rosette found Ino thumbing through a few dress racks.

"You have to wear this! This is perfect!" Before Sakura could react, Ino had thrown a golden dress at her. Caught off surprise, the dress hit her before falling down onto the Champagne colored marble floor. As soon as she reached down to swipe the dress off the floor, Sakura gasped. She hadn't even realized when she had bought the dress. The dress was a simple, one shouldered golden cocktail dress, and it was rare to a find a one shouldered dress that was actually worth wearing. What Sakura liked most of the dress was that it wasn't fancy at all, and there was no design on it; the dress itself was a ruched dress.

"Try it on!" Ino demanded and Sakura rolled her eyes before stripping herself right in front of Ino. She didn't care; the girls had been best friends since they were seven. After slipping on the dress carefully, Sakura ran her hands down the front, taking in the feeling of the silkiness.

"Oh my god! Forehead, you look amazing."

"Are you sure? I have a feeling my pink hair clashes with this dress." Okay, so having pink hair wasn't necessarily the best thing in the world. Sure, Sakura loved her hair and how it labeled her unique, but she could sometimes do without having her hair clash with some of the prettiest clothing she had ever laid her eyes on.

"No! You look hot!" Ino laughed and pulled Sakura's arm so she could drag her towards the mirror near the corner of the closet. Ino was right, Sakura decided. The dress had fit her perfectly, hugging and exaggerating every little curve she had (Ino often teased Sakura that she was curve-less) and it wasn't as short as what most girls in her school had worn to previous parties; the hem of the dress ended at the middle of her thigh, the perfect length for an after party.

"Here; catch!" Before Sakura could process what Ino had said, two pairs of heels jabbed her in the stomach. She let out a groan before reaching down to slip on the shoes. Ino's baby blue eyes sparkled with amusement before she continued to turn back around and face the shoe shelf.

The shoes that were thrown at Sakura were Louboutins with a peep toe in the front and a slingback. The six inch heels were a sleek black color while the inside of the shoe was the same dazzling gold, and it definitely matched with the dress. Sakura walked (read as stumbled) towards the mirror to check herself out once more. Ino was a fashion guru, Sakura noted mentally, as she slid her right hand onto her hip before turning sideways to check her profile. The dress complimented Sakura's figure and her emerald green eyes seemed to glow in joy as she realized her hair did not clash with the dress. Her platform heels seemed to make her already long legs longer and more slender. This was the dress she would definitely wear to the party.

"You look sexy." Ino laughed and sat down on one of the velvet stools.

"Thanks Pig. I didn't even know I had this dress to be honest. Hey, are you going to borrow anything?" Sakura slipped off her heels before working on getting the dress off.

"I'm gonna see what I have at home first. Oh, by the way, I'm borrowing your purple corset heels."

"The one with the ribbons?"

"Mmhm."

"Alright, let me change and let's get out of here." Sakura padded towards her shorts drawer before pulling out a random one and exchanged her jeans for the denim shorts. She quickly pulled her rosette locks up in a sloppy high ponytail and nudged Ino out of her closet, making sure to shut off the lights before closing the door. There was this one time where she forgot to turn off the lights before leaving to Paris with Sasori and her father. When she found out, she freaked out and pretended nothing had happened. Unfortunately, Sasori broke the news to her that their father was having a mini heart attack downstairs over the electricity bill.

**xxxx**

"Oh my god. What the hell! Are you freaking stalking me?" Sakura groaned as she caught sight of a redhead poking out from behind the couch. Sasori turned around and gave his sister a smile.

"Au contraire ma petite soeur**(1)**, you're the one who came here after I did."

"Touché, Sasori, touché..." There was a pregnant pause before Ino rolled her eyes and dragged her friend out of the living room and towards her own room.

"Is your brother even home?" Sakura asked while Ino led her into her bedroom. Sakura's eyes widened as she gaped around the room. Ino's usually clean room now had a bunch of clothes lying on her messy bed with a bunch of magazines scattered everywhere. Sakura had to make sure to look twice where she was stepping or else she would trip on either a shoe or a romance novel.

"Who cares if the creep's home? You have to help me pick a dress! Preferably purple so it can match your cute pumps!" Sakura nodded wordlessly and followed Ino towards her overflowing closet. The Yamanakas lived in a normal one story house with three bedrooms, one guest room, two bathrooms, a kitchen, a dining room, a den, and a family room.

Ino's father worked as a detective in the police department while her mother was a clothing designer. Ino's brother, Deidara, often worked part time as an art teacher assistant back at Konoha High. Sasori and Deidara were best friends, so it wasn't difficult to figure out where either of them had gone when one of them was missing. If Sasori wasn't at Deidara's house, then Deidara was either over at the Harunos' house. Either that or they were always seen together with their group of friends.

Deidara and Ino looked alike; Sakura had decided when she was first introduced to him. Both Yamanaka siblings sported the same hairstyle, with a thick strip of bangs covering one eye and their hair up in a high ponytail (although Deidara only had half his hair up in a ponytail and the hairstyle didn't even look gay on him! If anything, it actually made him look even hotter with his crystal blue eyes). Deidara always teased Ino for copying him which Ino always argued back that she was the first to invent the hairstyle. The only difference with their hair was that Deidara's was a sunshine blonde while Ino was a platinum blonde.

"What the hell happened to your room?" Sakura asked while picking up an empty coffee cup and throwing it in the overflowing trashcan nearby.

"Ugh. Finals week. Remember how Coach threatened me that if I didn't pass English she wouldn't let me compete in the state finals?" Ino rolled her eyes before stepping across what suspiciously looked like a bowl of leftover oatmeal. Oh god. Sakura quickly looked away and shuddered a bit. If there was anything Sakura hated, it was oatmeal. And week old oatmeal didn't look too appetizing either.

"You are never going to find anything in your room if you don't clean up. Heh, your mess suits your name Piggy." Sakura giggled and saw a satisfying scowl on Ino's face. While Ino began to dig in her closet, Sakura decided to fix up Ino's room, and started by bringing a garbage bag back upstairs. If Ino's father saw this big mess, the whole house would explode. Unfortunately for Ino, her father was a neat person, and he hated it if something was crooked. It was probably a good thing her father didn't check up on her room, Sakura mused.

"Hey! Watch where you're throwing things!" Sakura squeaked and dodged another jacket that flew over her head and landed on Ino's bed. It was actually a wonder how Ino always managed to find nothing to wear when her mother was a clothing designer.

"Sorry!" Sakura could tell the blonde didn't mean the sorry, since she didn't spare Sakura a second glance as she continued to rummage through her clothes with a concentrated look. Sakura decided to let Ino continue looking through piles of clothes and finished cleaning up the room. It was somewhat neater, and a full-sized bed was now visible with lilac bedspreads, covers, and pillows. The room was now cleaner and organized, thanks to Sakura's help.

"How does this look?" Sakura glanced up to see Ino emerging from her closet. She had changed out of her baby doll tank top and shorts, and was now clad in a lavender cocktail dress.

"Woah! When did you get that?" Sakura smiled and stood up from the floor and circled around Ino. On her body, Ino was wearing a strapless silk dress that ended right above her knees; nothing too trashy for a graduation after party. A trio of folded rosettes tops the ruched, crisscrossed sweetheart bodice of the chiffon dress.

"It was my mom's. She wore it when she graduated from high school." Ino grins and twirls around once. "Now, let's talk hair and makeup!" she added, smirking deviously.

**xxxxx**

As the two girls entered the night club the next day, they were immediately surrounded by the smell of sweat, hairspray, and smoke.

"Let's do this shit!" Ino cheered and grabbed Sakura's arm. She dragged her towards the drink station ("No alcohol!" Iruka had demanded. But seriously. They're _graduating_. What's a graduation after party without alcohol?) and ordered two Cherry Cola Cocktails for Sakura and herself.

"Let's dance! I want to get a hangover from all this!" Sakura rolled her eyes at the blonde, but nodded nonetheless. She let herself get dragged over to the middle of the dance floor by Ino. Almost immediately, Ino had her body moving to the beat of the music. Sakura laughed and took a sip of her drink, liking the taste of the rum and cola burning her tongue. Sakura began to feel comfortable after taking a few more drinks of her alcoholic beverage and danced alongside with the bubbling blonde.

"Cheers! To graduating from high school!" Ino raised her glass and Sakura followed, clinking their glasses together.

"Cheers!" she slurred right back.

* * *

**(1) Au contraire ma petite soeur – On the contrary, my little sister**

**Happy summer break! Or, well, those who are on summer break anyways. **

**I present to ya'll a short story that contains at most a prologue, ten chapters, and perhaps an epilogue! Just a small summer ficlet involving cliché summer romances and summer trips! **

**Happy reading, and don't forget to pass along some constructive criticism – I love to learn new things that can improve my writing!**


	2. Chapter 1: Can't Be Tamed

**Title: **Summer's Tangled In Your Hair

**Summary: **AU. "Ino, I think I'll take you up on the summer road trip offer."

In which Sakura and Ino take a road trip and complete their list of things to do without a care in the world.

**Rating: **T/PG-13

**Pairing(s): **sasusaku, very minor naruino

**Disclaimer: Disclaimer: Naruto and associated characters are not a property of mine. I just merely own the plot of this story. I also do not own Levi's, Nike, Gilly Hicks or **_**Aquamarine**_**.**

* * *

{_**C**_hapter _**1**_: _**C**_an't _**B**_e _**T**_amed}

_"I wanna fly, I wanna drive, I wanna go; I wanna be a part of something I don't know. And if you try to hold me back I might explode! Baby, by now you should know: I can't be tamed!"_

_-Can't Be Tamed, Miley Cyrus_

**x**

"So tell me," Ino's mother drawled, "what happened last night that caused you to be so careless that you got some kind of drink spilled on my graduation dress?" Mrs. Yamanaka sniffed the soiled dress and scrunched her nose. Ino froze, and her cornflower eyes flickered towards Sakura. Sakura bit her bottom lip and shrugged; they were caught. "And why does it smell suspiciously like rum?"

"Okay, you caught us!" Ino sighed dramatically, and the roseate almost bit her tongue in amusement as she chewed her macaroni and cheese. She had to cover her laugh by coughing. Deidara quirked an eyebrow at his younger sister's friend, but said nothing otherwise as he stood up to get another helping of macaroni and cheese.

"Excuse me?" Mrs. Yamanaka questioned her daughter. Even Mr. Yamanaka who had been reading the afternoon newspaper stopped to stare at his daughter. It wasn't every day where Ino would admit wrong to something.

"So you know how there was the graduation after party?" she began. Sakura shrunk back in her chair and pushed around the beans on her plate with her fork. Where was Ino going with this? After a nod to indicate that her mother was following along with the story, Ino continued.

"Those idiots in the Student Council booked our after party in a club. A club! Now what's a club without alcohol right? Well, some idiot decided to spike the innocent punch with some kind of alcohol –" "Rum, like what your mother said," Sakura mumbled and Ino nodded ferociously before continuing. "Right, rum! They mixed the punch with the stupid rum and how the heck am I supposed to know it was alcohol if I never even tried it before?" By ending her explanation, Ino slammed her fists on the table, causing silverware to jump.

"Oh please. Are you seriously going to listen to your daughter, yeah?" Deidara rolled his eyes and took a sip of lemonade. Ino practically glared daggers at Deidara, who didn't seem fazed at all. He just gave her an evil grin-smirk.

"It's so obvious that your dear little daughter ha–" Deidara let out a shout and bowed his head down onto the table in pain. Sakura mused over the fact that he had barely managed to push his plate away before dropping his head down onto the table. Ino smirked, satisfied that her kick to her brother's shin had shut him up. It probably didn't help with the fact that she was wearing heels.

"Deidara?" Mr. Yamanaka questioned his son's antic. Deidara let out a breath of colorful words before sitting back up straight.

"Please, Ino, don't kick Deidara when we're eating. And I wouldn't have believed your little lie either. I _would _ground you for a month, but since it's summer and you're finally a graduate of high school with a 4.0 GPA, I'll let it slide." Before Ino could let out a shout in joy, her mother continued, "You are grounded for one week. And the same goes for you, Sakura. I'm sure your father would like to hear about this?" Sakura could almost groan, but instead, she nodded numbly with all due respect towards Mrs. Yamanaka.

**xx**

"Honestly! What was Deidara thinking?" Ino hissed and gripped her steering wheel tightly in her hand. Sakura nervously watched the road in front of her.

"Calm down, Pig. You're gonna get us killed with the way you're gripping the wheel!" Ino slackened her grip and sighed, groaning.

"What the hell," the blonde moaned. "I freakin' hate my brother."

"It's just one week, Ino. At least our parents didn't take away our phones." The roseate shrugged and pulled out her iPhone for evidence. Sure, they were stripped of their freedom to go wherever for one week besides each other's houses, but at least the girls still had their phones. Sakura knew for a fact that she wouldn't be able to survive without her phone.

"I guess," Ino mumbled miserably before sliding into a vacant parking space in Wal-Mart's parking lot. The girls were on a shopping run for supplies. Ino's mother had requested them to buy a new bottle of aspirin and some tea while Ino's father requested a new bag of coffee grounds. Sakura also remembered Deidara shouting for Ino to purchase him a new set of paint and paintbrushes.

"I'm almost eighteen! I demand freedom!" Ino shouted angrily and grabbed a nearby cart. Her angry shout earned a few glances towards the girl, which Ino ignored. Sakura just gave the bystanders an innocent smile and ran to catch up with the fuming blonde.

"Our parents are only doing what's best for us. I mean, come on, Ino. We're barely seventeen and eighteen, and we're drinking alcohol already. We're not even the legal age to consume it."

"You sound like my father," Ino grumbled and headed towards the medication aisle.

"Hey, if it helps, at least your dad didn't arrest us," the roseate chirped. She earned a punch to the arm by her seething companion.

"Just help me find the stuff," grumbled Ino. Sakura just sighed and glanced down the aisle for any sign of Tylenol. Sakura was still looking for the white bottle when Ino called out to Sakura to let her know she had found it. Throwing it into the cart, Ino sighed and began to walk towards the arts and craft section. The two friends decided that they would get whatever was needed and meet up at the checkout area in fifteen minutes. Agreeing, Sakura headed off towards the grocery section.

**xxx**

When Ino had finally shown up running towards Sakura, she let out a grin. It wasn't just a grin though; it was an evil kind of grin. A grin that made Sakura shiver and almost drop her supplies. It was the I-got-a-splendid-and-rebellious-and-evil-idea that Ino always wore whenever she was about to launch something that could get them in trouble. Before Sakura could open her mouth and question her crazy friend, Ino picked up a box of hair dye and shoved it into Sakura's face.

"Royal Blue Hair Dye," Sakura read off the box. Her emerald eyes widened and she dropped her groceries and whatnot into the cart. Grabbing the dye box in her hand she gave Ino a look.

"Are you crazy? Your mother just grounded us! What do you think is going to happen if you leave your house with normal hair and come back with highlights? And not to mention the color blue!" Ino sighed and reached into her purse to pull out a rolled up poster paper.

"The list, Sakura. We already made a promise that we would do all these before college starts, so why not start now? Come on! We're going to be in college next year! Summer isn't going to last forever, so we might as well have a little fun! Besides, we only live life once!" Ino pleads.

"I.. I don't know Ino," Sakura mumbled and ran a hand through her back-length hair.

"Live a little! Don't you want an adventure?" Ino demanded. Sakura sighed. She had caught her there. All her life, Sakura wished to do something fun; to live life to the fullest because it could end before she even saw it coming. This list was her only chance before she attends college and focus on getting her medical degree. And Ino was right, as much as the roseate hated to admit. We only live life once.

"Fine. We'll do it." Ino smirked smugly at her friend before latching her arms around Sakura's shoulders.

"Good! Now let's head back to the food section, 'cause we're gonna need all we need for our road trip!" Sakura let out a laugh and followed her insane friend back to the place she had just come from.

* * *

**xxxx**

_**I would love to at least bleach my hair or dye it! Squee! **(Ino! How cute would it be to like bleach your hair a royal blue? But not all your hair, just a few strands like highlights? It would go well with your blonde hair.) **(Dude! That would be such a cute color! Nice idea Forehead!)**_

* * *

"Ow!" There was a muffled thump and Sasori paused the game to look up from his TV. Stupid girls.

"What the hell is going on up there, yeah?" Deidara glanced up from the game the two friends were playing to stare at the ceiling above them. Unpausing the game, Sasori shrugged.

"My little sister and your sister came home earlier with bags from Wal-Mart. They disappeared into my little sister's room shortly after."

"Die, yeah!" Deidara let out a whoop and grinned in delight when the two friends had won the completed the stage in a shooting game. Although his eyes were trained on the TV in front of him, Deidara paid just as much attention to his red-haired friend.

"Mother grounded them just this afternoon. She found out Ino and Sakura had alcohol at the party last night."

"Aa, yes. I remember father telling my little sister that he was disappointed in her." The redhead smirked as his character in the game headshot three people down. If only their father had realized Sasori had already began consuming alcohol when he was barely fifteen and smoking since he was seventeen. There was another shriek and thump from upstairs and a series of curse words flowing out of the Yamanaka's voice. Quirking an eyebrow, Sasori paid little attention afterwards while Deidara paid no attention to the stream of curses flowing out of his sister's mouth from up above.

Upstairs in Sakura's restroom, Ino blindly grabbed a nearby towel and rubbed her burning eyes with them. Sakura watched with an amused smirk on her face. The blonde had opened the box and eagerly began to mix the dye to create a royal blue color. Ino had forgotten that her hands were covered with dye when she reached up to rub her itchy eyes. The dye seeped into her eyes and began to create a burning irritation.

"Don't just stand there!" Ino whined. Sakura sighed and jumped off her bathroom counter to turn on the tap water. The sink filled with cold water in a few seconds, and the roseate dragged her friend to the sink. Ino squeezed her eyes shut and bent down to splash water into her eyes. After a few more splashes, she could finally open her eyes without feeling any stinging. Whipping around to glare at the laughing roseate, Ino shouted angrily while throwing the towel at Sakura, "You suck! Why did you just stand there?"

Calming her giggles, Sakura flipped her glossy hair over her shoulder. "Oh shut up! You're not going to die just by getting dye in your eyes. The worst possible is just you becoming blind, but not dead."

"Whatever," the blonde grumbled. Her mood quickly changing, Ino held up the mixed concoction. "It's finished! Let's test it out!" Sakura nodded and draped a towel across her friend's shoulders. Using a hair clip, Sakura grabbed half of Ino's thick hair and clipped it up.

"I'm going to start by doing the back strands of your hair, so even if I mess up – which I won't – it won't stand out and make people look at you like you grew three heads." Sakura smirked amused as Ino let out a bitter laugh.

"Just shut up and get started already."

"Whatever, Piggy."

"Oink oink," Ino drawled whilst rolling her eyes.

Grabbing the mixed bleach powder and 40 Volume Developer, Sakura began to rub the concoction into the selected strands. Then, Sakura wrapped the bleached strips with foil paper. After waiting for the bleach to seep in, she unwrapped the foil and blew dry the strands.

"Wait, I'm already blonde though. Are you sure you need to freaking bleach my hair still?"

"What's the worst that could happen?"

"Right…"

Sakura then colored the strands with the royal blue dye, making sure to rub in the dye so the color would come out pigmented. After repeating the foil and drying process, Sakura grabbed a brush and smoothed out Ino's thick mane.

"Um, Ino? I think we have a problem." The blonde stiffened, and she quickly looked up from her fashion magazine. Her baby blue eyes widened as her breath hitched in her throat.

"What the hell?" She screeched. Sakura grimaced and tossed Ino's hair around.

"W-well, it isn't that bad. It's a cute color!" Sakura tried to console her friend. "You look like the mermaid from _Aquamarine_!"

"Hey Sakura."

"Yeah?"

"Shut up." Ino sniffed as she ran a hand through her highlighted hair. Instead of the color turning out to a royal blue, the dye had faded and became an aquamarine color. "I thought you said you wouldn't mess up!"

"I also said that I would stop sending so many texts, but that never happened. Look, I'm sorry, but it doesn't even look that bad. Honestly!" Sakura flashed Ino a confident grin.

"Whatever," Ino sighed and began to clean up the messy bathroom. "On the bright side, this completes number one on our list! But –"

"Oh no…"

"But! Sakura, sweetheart, I think it's time for you to go out and get a real haircut." Ino gave a devious smile as she played with a strand of Sakura's hair.

"What's wrong with trimming my own hair at home?" Sakura pouted and tugged on her overgrown side bangs.

"You have split ends again and your layers don't even look like layers. Not to mention your side bangs aren't even side bangs anymore; they're almost as long as your hair."

"I'm kind of offended," Sakura mumbled as she ran a hand through her hair. "But why can't I just leave my hair like this? I think it looks rather nice."

Ino sighed and placed her hands on Sakura's shoulder, shocking light blue locking into surprised viridian eyes. "Forehead, your hair _is _cute. But–" Ino raised a finger before Sakura could interrupt her, "But it's _little kid _cute, not sexy, tousled hot." Sakura's eyes narrowed.

"Are you implying that I'm not sexy material, Pig?"

"Obviously your hair isn't. You have the movie star look, Sakura. You have flawless skin, wonderful captivating eyes, and paper white teeth that can blind someone. But your hair tells me something else." The devious Yamanaka could tell she was angering the roseate in front of her. Sakura's nose scrunched as she ground her teeth together. Ino could also see at the corner of her peripheral vision that her friend's hands clenched into fists. _'Wonderful taunting, Ino my dear,' _Ino smirked to herself.

Before Sakura could actually think it through, she pulled away from Ino and rummaged through her drawers. Finding what she was looking for, Sakura pulled it out and showed it to Ino, opening and closing the scissors in front of the blonde's face. Ino let out a gasp as she helplessly watched Sakura grab a fistful of her hair and poised the cutting instrument just three fingers below her jaw line.

"Sakura!" Ino screeched loudly as she watched, mortified that Sakura's silky strands slowly fell to the bathroom floor. Upon hearing Ino's terrified scream, the bathroom door burst open to reveal Sasori and Deidara, their eyes scanning the bathroom vacant of threats. Deidara's eyes followed the remaining strands of bubblegum hair falling to the floor as he whistled long and low.

"Foolish girl," Sasori sighed. "You have destroyed what used to be a wonderful work of art that you had cherished so much."

"I hope you're satisfied," Ino mumbled dejectedly.

"Oh, I am." Sakura smirked triumphantly as she continued to clean up the choppy ends of her new chin length bob.

**xxxxx**

"Skirts?"

"Yup."

"Your ridiculously cute jeggings from Gilly Hicks?"

"Two pairs of jeggings, three pairs of Levi's supper skinny jeans, one pair of grey sweats, one pair of black leggings, and two pairs of denim shorts."

Sakura smiled lightly as she folded her leggings and stuffed it inside her already full duffel bag. Besides the many pairs of pants, her Nike duffel bag was already filled with two summer dresses, a bathing suit, five different T-shirts, three tank tops, one off the shoulder knit sweater, flip flops, and of course, bathroom necessities and daily uses.

"I think I'm ready for our trip," Sakura murmured. She placed a delicate finger on her pursed lips, thinking for a bit.

"Awesome! Let's grab our food from your fridge and drive back to my house so I can pack as well. Then we can make our greatest escape ever!"

"Erm. Let's not get out of hand here, Pig." Sakura grabbed her bag and purse before walking down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"Going somewhere?" Sakura's breath hitched in her throat as she turned around, her newly chopped hair swishing in sync.

"Mr. Haruno!"

"Dad! What are you doing home? I thought you were on a business trip!" Sakura inwardly squeaked, her terrified viridian eyes flickering between her father and Ino, who seemed caught up in the moment with surprise. Mr. Haruno quirked a brow, his eyes narrowing at her daughter and her friend's nervous antics.

"I left my camera at home so I came back to get it."

"Y-you came back just for the camera? Couldn't you have bought another one?"

"You know that I love my baby more than anything," Mr. Haruno grinned as he held up his most prized camera in his hands. Sakura inwardly groaned as Ino rolled her eyes discreetly. "But the question is where do you think you are going, young lady?" His grey storm eyes narrowed at the duffel bag on Sakura's shoulder.

Sakura opened her mouth, but Ino beat her to it. "Mr. Haruno, Sakura is going on a summer road trip with me and my brother. I can promise you that your daughter will be safe in the hands of us." Sakura nervously nibbled on her lip as she prayed for her father to buy the lie.

"Sakura, I'm disappointed to hear that you were going to leave without my permission. But as long as there is someone older than eighteen going on the trip, I trust you girls. Have fun," he murmured and pecked Sakura on her forehead and lightly tugged on her short locks teasingly, "and be safe, you two."

As her father left the room, Sakura felt the breath of air she had been unconsciously holding in out. "Crap. So close to getting caught," she murmured and smacked her forehead with her palm.

"Shh! Let's go before he questions us some more!" Ino grabbed Sakura and the groceries before dragging her friend out the mansion.

"Father, you do realize that Sakura is lying, right?" Sasori stood behind his father as Mr. Haruno stared out the window and watched Sakura and Ino giggle and climb into Sakura's convertible.

"She's eighteen, Sasori. She deserves a little bit of freedom, don't you think? After all, she can't stay my little girl forever. Don't you agree, Sasori?"

"Hn. You're right, father. Art is only beautiful when break free from the cages that keep you from spreading your wings and flying."

* * *

**xxxxxx**

_**7. GO ON A SUMMER ROAD TRIP! OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG. **(Yes! With my car! We can drive with the convertible top down!) **(Ilyyyyyyyy)**_

* * *

Deidara stared at the note taped to the kitchen counter as he re-read the note over and over again. "Tch. That darn Ino." However, the blonde let out a laugh and shook his head. "She finally learns the true meaning of rebelling. Wait until mother and father find out."

"She's dead when she comes home." Deidara's visible eye widened as he froze. _'Good luck Ino, yeah!'_

* * *

**And thus the summer road trip begins! Sasuke and Naruto will be coming on soon. **

**Thanks for checking out this story. To those who review, thank you so much, and to those who read but don't review, thank you as well. (:**


	3. Chapter 2: Up All Night

**Title: **Summer's Tangled In Your Hair

**Summary: **AU. "Ino, I think I'll take you up on the summer road trip offer."

In which Sakura and Ino take a road trip and complete their list of things to do without a care in the world.

**Rating: **T

**Pairing(s): **sasusaku, very minor naruino

**Disclaimer: Disclaimer: Naruto and associated characters are not a property of mine. I just merely own the plot of this story. I also do not own Victoria's Secret or _Twilight_.  
**

* * *

{_**C**_hapter _**2**_: _**U**_p _**A**_ll _**N**_ight}

"_I wanna stay up all night and jump around until we see the sun. I wanna stay up all night and find a boy and tell him he's the one."_

_-Up All Night, One Direction __***modified through a girl's point of view**_

**x**

Laughter bounced around the convertible before the giggles disappeared out the roofless car and mixed with the loud motors of cars on the highway.

"Sakura! We did it! We're finally out of freaking Konoha!" Ino let out a whoop and threw her hands up above her head. The naturally beautiful blonde closed her eyes and tilted her head back, enjoying the warmth radiating from the sun and onto her face.

Sakura laughed as well, shaking her head. "We didn't even cross the Konoha-Suna border yet. But I am a little glad," she admits. Her dazzling green eyes are focused on the road, and even Ino could admit that Sakura definitely beat her when it came to driving. It only took the roseate woman one try to pass both the written and driving test while it had taken Ino at least twice to pass the driving portion (by using threats).

"A little?" Ino questioned her friend. She ran a manicured hand through her glossy hair and pushed some hair away from flying into her face.

"Yup. I was getting cabin fever, and I think I would've begged my father to at least send me to Suna for an internship as a nurse just to get out of Konoha sooner or later if we didn't actually have a road trip."

"Well who cares now! We're on the highway, it's gorgeous and sunny out, and we are looking smoking hot with our new hair." Sakura inwardly snorted. Who likes their hair now, Piggy? "I wanna hit up the indoor water amusement park in Suna. They have a freaking wave pool, Sak. A wave pool!" Ino sighed dreamily as if she just got asked out by a Prince. "Not to mention new boys to drool over!"

"Don't drool on my leather seats now, Pig." Sakura snorted. "Which reminds me, we still have number nine to complete. But I doubt we would be able to do it in the indoor pool."

"Right," Ino murmured as she pulled out the rolled up list from the dashboard storage. "Skinny dipping at midnight. I guess we could do that at one of the beaches there or something."

"I guess so."

The rest of the car ride was quiet with the exception of the loud blares from the radio and Ino softly singing along with the occasional mainstream songs both girls knew. As the "Welcome to Sunagakure" sign came into view, Ino sucked in a breath and pulled out her phone, ready to snap a shot. Sakura's miniscule smile stretched with every second they inched closer to the sign. Right when the cherry red convertible passed the large sign, both girls simultaneously let out a squeal.

"We've begun!" Sakura shouted, laughing. "Our summer has officially begun and so has our road trip!"

"Fuck yeah!" Ino agreed and pumped her fist into the air. Sakura giggled, loving the humidity air that hit her face as the whipping wind blew her bubblegum hair everywhere. "Nothing's going to dampen our mood!"

**xx**

"You just had to go and say something like that, huh?" Sakura asked glumly as she climbed out of a tow truck. Ino followed suit and sighed.

"Just stop. You're making me feel guilty."

"When do you ever feel guilty?" Sakura mumbled and thanked the driver who was unhooking her convertible from the tow truck. Just their luck that the car happened to run out of gas just three miles away from arriving in Suna. Sakura swore her gas tank was full when they left Konoha.

Ino moaned and fanned herself with her hand, muttering incoherent words under her breath about the summer heat wave. Sakura sighed. "Just stay in the car. I'll go fill up the tank." The blonde trudged inside the convertible, wiping away the layer of sweat on her arm; it was literally that hot.

After the two girls left the gas station, Sakura pulled up into a motel that looked pretty decent from the outside. They unloaded their luggage and trudged into the motel, the heat almost unbearable. The lady behind the concierge table glanced at the two panting girls and almost felt sorry for them.

**xxx **

"The water park," Ino growled. "We're going to the damn water park and no one is going to stop me!" As soon as the two girls squeezed through the small (and only vacant at the moment) room they would be staying in, Ino shoved Sakura to the ground, threw her luggage onto the floor and ran to adjust the air conditioning so that the room began to cool in a ridiculously fast pace. Sakura almost felt sorry for the people who paid for the bills.

"What about food?" Sakura grouched. However, she too, herself was also rummaging through her duffel bag for her swimsuit.

"We'll get food there later. I just want to go in the pool already." Ino ran into the bathroom and began to change. Sakura pulled the curtains closed and dressed outside.

After a few minutes, Ino had emerged from the bathroom wearing a sky blue bikini with lime green ribbons. The top part was a halter part with a plunge front where a lime green ribbon was at and a peek-a-boo cutout. It was sexy and was from Victoria's Secret, Ino's favorite place to shop at. The bikini she wore also definitely screamed Ino. Underneath Sakura's denim shorts and grey tank top was her own maldive-colored bikini from Victoria's Secret. The top part was strapless and had a cute bow with ruching at front.

Ino's smile widened as she came out to find Sakura obediently dressed. She pulled on her own strapless cover-up over her bikini and grabbed her beach bag. She tossed in her cell phone, iPod, a towel, and her sunglasses while Sakura brushed her hair up into a low knotted bun with her bangs down. Ino smirked as she watched Sakura sigh at the strands of hair she wasn't able to tie up. She wondered if the roseate regretted cutting her hair off this short now.

"Okay. I got the sunscreen just in case. We're pretty much ready to go." Sakura tossed the bottle of protection into Ino's bag along with her own sunglasses.

**xxxx**

"This place is big!" Ino gaped as the two girls entered the indoor water amusement park. From the outside, Sakura already deemed the place humongous, considering it was an amusement park. But on the inside, it looked even bigger and prettier. Considering the fact that this park was built in Suna, home of the hottest and windiest days ever (Ino dubbed it a desert), the inside was far from reminding everyone this place was practically like a desert.

The park was two stories high, and was painted blue to resemble the ocean. To complete the look, plastic jellyfishes that served as light hung from the ceilings and plastic bubbles, seahorses, a different variety of fish, and seaweed decorated the ceilings and walls. The whole place was like a fantasy underwater amusement park. The second level of the park held food courts, souvenir shops, and lockers and restrooms where people could change and place their belongings in.

Sakura and Ino gave each other a look and knew what both were thinking. "Wave pool first," they said simultaneously. The two girls sped off towards the check-in desk and bought their wristbands and received keys to their locker. As they stripped off their outer garments in the locker room, they couldn't stop gushing about what they saw and planned on what to ride.

"Okay, done." Sakura smiled and smoothed out Ino's fishtail braid. "A fishtail braid to match the theme." She giggled and Ino just rolled her eyes. The busty blonde stood up and smiled at Sakura.

"We're on vacation! Finally! We're really on our road trip!"

"Okay, you said that ten thousand times. Let's just go to the pool already." Sakura rolled her eyes. As the two girls walked towards the wave pool, Sakura tuned out on what Ino was saying. She really couldn't believe it; two soon-to-be freshmen college girls on a summer road trip. She had to suppress her squeal.

**xxxxx**

"Break's over. Let's hurry back."

"Don't be such a pansy. You always follow the rules."

"Hn. And you always break the rules. You nearly drowned Kakashi when you were checking the wave pool last time."

"Heh, his mask got soaked, but even then he refused to take it off." A loud laugh filled the space between the two eighteen-year-olds. The boisterous blonde clapped his friend on the black and received a cold glare.

"Tch. You also got his damn book wet, Dobe. Don't you forget that I had to help you clean the locker rooms that day." Sasuke Uchiha narrowed his obsidian eyes and quirked a perfect brow. He honestly couldn't believe what he had done to meet the loud Naruto Uzumaki.

The two contrasting teens exited the faculty room and began to trek their way towards their work station: the wave pool. Naruto grinned happily, as if he actually wanted a freaking summer job. Thankfully, this was their last week working before they're off on vacation. The cerulean-eyed boy waved to a few local children who came here too often. Apparently Naruto was one of the well-known lifeguards. The other one was Sasuke, who mostly received all the (unwanted) attention of girls all ages.

"You're so damn pale, Teme!" Naruto suddenly spoke as he eyed his best friend. "What the hell, man. You're a lifeguard in Suna, and you're as pale as the damn vampire in that one book. The only difference would be that you don't sparkle." A fox-like grin spread across his whiskered-face ("They're awesome scars, dammit! Leave me alone, Teme!"). "Unless you _do _sparkle in the sunlight?" He waggled his eyebrows.

Sasuke glowered at the blonde. It wasn't his fault he didn't tan easily. "And why are _you _so dark? We work in an indoor pool, you idiot." Compared to his (self-proclaimed) best friend's bronze skin, Sasuke was like a ghost.

"Yeah, well y–Omf!" Naruto groaned and stumbled backwards. Sasuke managed to grab his arm and pull him back upright before he actually stumbled to the ground. "What the?" Naruto looked down to find platinum blonde hair.

"Ino!" A shaky voice called from behind the girl who hastily pulled away from Naruto.

"Ah, shit. I wasn't watching where I was going." The girl, Ino, sighed and firmly planted her hands on her hips. Naruto watched her, almost as if he was in a trance. There was something about this girl that seemed to catch his attention, and it wasn't just her beauty that he liked; it seemed like something else in her was calling for him. Almost like the nymphs in Greek mythology, she looked as if she were silently seducing him.

"Uh," Naruto stammered, as the blue-eyed girl in front of him watched him with interest and caution. Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Hn. Be careful," he drawled lazily to the two girls and turned to the still dazed Naruto. "Let's go, idiot."

**xxxxxx**

"He was hot," Ino finally muttered. "Did you see him? He was definitely built, but not the bulky kind of built. And he felt kinda soft and warm too."

"So basically what you're trying to tell me is that you only pretended to trip just so you could 'hug' him?" Sakura snorted and began to lead the way to the wave pool. Her friend might've been interested in the cute blonde, but the raven-haired boy next to him caught her eye. He seemed…interesting. Silent and observing before jumping into the conversation.

"No! I seriously did trip over the stupid shoe!" Ino flushed.

"Right," Sakura drawled, a teasing smirk on her face. "C'mon, get in!" Sakura smiled as she waded into the pool, shivering slightly as the cool water lapped at her gently. Ino grinned and ran in, splashing Sakura slightly. She grabbed her friend's arm and began to wade in deeper. By the time she finally stopped, the two girls were in the five foot section.

"Ino, I can't go any further," Sakura mumbled and squeezed her eyes shut as a wave crashed over her head. She gasped as her head resurfaced and wiped her face free of water.

"A little more," Ino begged. The blonde bit her lip as she glanced up ahead. Up ahead was the same blonde, who was on lifeguard duty with his raven-haired friend. Ino wanted to talk (or flirt in her case) with him.

"You know I can't swim that well!" Sakura begged, but held on tightly to her friend's arm as Ino began to tread water towards the two boys perched on surfboards.

"Oi, Sasuke! It's been three minutes. Get ready." Sasuke nodded and ran a hand through his hair. If it was one thing he didn't like, it was getting his hair wet. Right as if on cue, the wave machine began to run, creating artificial waves.

Sasuke watched as people scrambled and screamed and laughed. Out of the corner of his eyes, pink caught his attention. It was the pink-haired girl from earlier. She seemed to be struggling to stay afloat. He watched silently as a wave crashed into her and separated her from her friend. His breath caught in his throat as her friend turned around, cornflower eyes frantic. Sasuke quickly slid off his board and began to quickly swim towards where he had last seen the girl.

"Sasuke!" He ignored his friend and continued to tread water, the waves pushing roughly against him. A wave crashed into him, the current pulling him under. He held his breath expertly, opening his eyes. The girl was just a few feet away from him, trying desperately to hold her breath and swim towards the surface with one hand pinching her nose. He swam towards her and gently wrapped his arms around her. Sasuke's eyes narrowed as she began to thrash around. Bubbles escaped out of his mouth as a foot collided into his chest. _'Tch. Stupid girl!' _

Sakura gasped as she suddenly broke surface. She coughed, trying to get water out of her nose. "Sakura! Are you okay?" A frantic voice called her name, and she opened her eyes, chlorine seeping in and irritating her eyes.

"I-Ino," she sniffed. It was just then that she felt someone breathing down her neck. Sakura gasped and turned around to come face to face with chest. She flushed deeply and took a step back, finally realizing that a lifeguard had managed to drag her towards the four feet mark. Sasuke let go of her waist, taking a step back himself. He sighed inwardly and smoothed his hair back from his face just in time to see tears fall from Sakura's shocking viridian eyes and mix with the water treks on her face.

* * *

**A shorter chapter for today. The Olympics got me distracted as well as the book _City of Bones. (: _I love it when I find a good book that actually makes me not want to put it down. Anyone else watching the Olympics? The gymnastics are my most favorite part of the entire competition. If anyone watches, what is your favorite sport to watch?**

**To the anonymous reviewer who asked if I liked _Selena Gomez _and _All Star Weeke_nd: Yes! I do like them both very much. (:  
**


	4. Chapter 3: Downtown Girl

**Title: **Summer's Tangled In Your Hair

**Summary: **AU. "Ino, I think I'll take you up on the summer road trip offer."

In which Sakura and Ino take a road trip and complete their list of things to do without a care in the world.

**Rating: **T/PG-13

**Pairing(s): **sasusaku, very minor naruino

**Disclaimer: Disclaimer: Naruto and associated characters are not a property of mine. I just merely own the plot of this story.**

* * *

{_**C**_hapter _**3**_: _**D**_owntown _**G**_irl}

"_I smell her sweet perfume, making rounds around the room 'cause she's a downtown girl. Her lips are red and those hips are turning heads 'cause she's a downtown girl."_

_-Downtown Girl, Hot Chelle Rae_

**x**

"Sakura, wake up." Ino shook the slumbering girl, but to no avail. Ino huffed, scratching her bed head hair. It was already 11:17 and Ino had just crawled out of bed grudgingly. Her roommate was usually the one who got up first, but today was a different day. "Sakura!" she screeched, picking up her pillow and slamming it down on Sakura's head, earning a surprised yelp.

"Ow!" Sakura moaned underneath the pillow. The pinkette slowly pulled the pillow off her face and sat up. "What?" she growled and rubbed at her eyes.

"It's almost 11:30 and we cannot waste a single day just sleeping in. Hurry up and get ready because we're going to leave soon." As soon as Ino left the room, Sakura groaned and flopped back down onto the bed.

"GET UP!" Ino screeched and Sakura shot up, mumbling colorful words under her breath. Rubbing her eyes once more, Sakura slid off the bed and padded quietly over to the window, drawing open the curtains and cursing slightly as the bright sun blinded her on impact.

Ino was right, Sakura mused as she stared out the window and down at the tiny people already walking around. She couldn't just sleep away her embarrassment from yesterday's swimming incident. It wasn't like she would ever see the two boys again, right? Right. With that thought, Sakura called the concierge, asking them about what entertainment might be good for two tourists.

Scribbling down the information on the complimentary notepad and pen, Sakura hung up just as Ino walked out of the bathroom, glowing and refreshed. The blonde had managed to create beach-y waves with her hair (the washed-out blue dye seemed to really compliment well with her naturally blonde hair) as well as line her eyelids with eyeliner, create a smoky effect with a warm bronze eye shadow, and coat her usually pale and light eyelashes with mascara, making them voluminous and seductive. How she had managed to do all that within only fifteen minutes was surprising.

"So what are we doing today?" Ino asked as she closed the curtains and began to undress.

"I called the concierge when you were in the bathroom, and they said that Suna is hosting a street fair today." Sakura informed her as she grabbed her brush and ran it through her hair a few times.

"Sweet!" Ino shouted back while slipping into a white flowy camisole with black super skinnies. She pursed her glossy lips and decided that her wedges would look nice with her outfit.

Meanwhile, Sakura stared into the mirror. A girl with a too-large forehead, a Crest-worthy white smile, and freakishly pink hair stared back. Deep within her viridian eyes, Sakura could see the spunk and moxie blazing within her. She rummaged through her makeup bag and started with a face exfoliation and then began to do her makeup.

After lining her eyelids with kohl and using the mascara wand to lengthen her eyelashes, Sakura decided it was a simple day for her. Just eyeliner and mascara would do for the day. And possibly bright red lipstick because she was feeling feisty. She untwisted the tube and smeared some of her lips, liking the way the pigment stood out against her skin tone. Yes, Sakura thought. Blazing red definitely brought out the zeal in her, and that was exactly what she needed to start over and forget about yesterday's incident.

Sakura combed her hair and parted it in the middle before grabbing her short hair and tying it into a low, loose ponytail, leaving her parted bangs to frame her face. She grabbed a floral ribbon and tied it around her head to create a cute rockabilly hairstyle. Sakura pursed her lips and stared at herself once more in the mirror. In place of the tired-looking girl was now Sakura Haruno with her celebrity-worthy bright smile, brilliant green eyes that popped against her pencil-lined eyelids and lips so glossy and kissable that they were hard to resist.

Satisfied with her appearance, Sakura exited the bathroom to find Ino sprawled on her bed texting someone on her phone. The roseate unzipped her duffel bag and pulled out her _Smile Kid! _We The Kings concert tee and her skinnies from Levi's. Black combat boots on and she was ready to have some fun. Ino grinned and jumped off the bed, stuffing her Samsung Galaxy S2 into her ridiculously cute Gucci chain strap bag. Ino linked arms with Sakura and the two girls left their hotel room.

* * *

**xx**

_8. Stop by every summer fair and festival in the cities we visit. **(Stuffing our faces with popcorn, cotton candy, and candy apples… Sounds fattening, but yum!) **(That is, if we ever even go on a road trip.) **(The hell you talking about? I'm gonna do this even if you don't want to come with me!)**_

* * *

Sakura happily licked her pomegranate raspberry yogurt off her blue spoon. Frozen yogurt was good, but it was even better when you ate it with an empty stomach on a hot day like today. She hid her smile behind her spoon as she spooned a cheesecake bite into her mouth. Yum!

"Man, this place is huge." Ino stared out the tiny yogurt shop they were currently in. She spooned her green tea yogurt into her mouth as her cornflower blue eyes darted from tent to tent across from them. Her wristwatch told her it was already 12:45 – almost 1, and true to the Suna brochures, the sun was already high up in the sky, beating down on the shoppers with intense heat.

The street fair was crowded with tons of people, whether it be tourists or the people that reside in Suna, which meant that there were barely any room you could call your own bubble. Ino had learned that it was nearly impossible to walk without having someone either breathing down your neck or bumping into you. Sakura had learned that you really had to watch where you were going or else you would be apologizing every few minutes for stepping on peoples' heels.

"It is," Sakura agreed and finished her last spoon of yogurt. She grabbed her cup of water and downed it in three gulps. She then proceeded to grab Ino's purse and look through the smaller compartments for a compact mirror and her red lipstick she had secretly stashed in there before leaving the hotel. "You shouldn't have brought your bag, Pig. I wouldn't be surprised if you either get pick-pocketed or get your purse jacked from you."

"Shush," Ino told her. "Don't jinx it!" Sakura made a face at Ino's back as she picked up their trash and threw it away in the already overflowing trashcan. "Besides, if I didn't bring my purse, you wouldn't even have been able to do a touchup like what you just did!" Ino shot her a look, which Sakura just smirked to.

"Okay, whatever. Which tent first?" Sakura asked and stood up. Ino followed, pursing her lips and thinking.

"Let's go for the boutique tent I saw earlier. It's the cute little pink tent that sells really cute jewelry." There was a smug smile on Ino's face as she led the way out. She couldn't wait to get some shopping done. Her credit card was just screaming her name!

**xxx**

Sasuke ground his teeth together as water splashed onto his face. Damn kids. Sasuke cursed in his mind while wiping the water droplets away from his face. Why was he stuck supervising the kiddie pool? Why was Naruto able to supervise the VIP section of pool? There was hardly ever anything dramatic that happened in the VIP section while screaming children wailing at the top of their lungs happened every few seconds at the kiddie pool.

"Tough luck," Sasuke muttered under his breath. The same two stupid words Naruto had told him while shaking with the silent laughter he was trying to suppress. Stupid idiot.

"Ah! There's the lifeguard! Get him!" A slightly pudgy boy with a floatie around his waist points at Sasuke. The Uchiha swallows the lump in his throat and takes a small step back as a hoard of kids begin to run towards him.

"Fuck my life," Sasuke cursed under his breath as he raised his whistle to his lips and got ready to toss stupid little kids into the deep end of the kiddie pool. But then again, the deepest was only three feet. "Fuck my life," he repeated as little girls clung to his legs and waist while the boys whacked him repeatedly in the chest and on the head with floaties and pool noodles.

All the way on the other side of the park, Naruto lounged lazily on the lifeguard post. He happily sipped his frozen lemonade as he leaned back, placing a hand behind his head. Ah, this was the life. As much as Naruto liked supervising the kiddie pool, he liked it even better here in the VIP section. Hardly anything happened that needed Naruto to bust his move and save someone from swallowing chlorine and water down their throats.

It truly was peaceful in this section of the park. Not to mention there were also some hot rich babes that sometimes rented this section. Like that one cutie who was discretely giving him looks. Or well, Naruto could easily tell she was looking at him by the way her pale lavender eyes ("So hawt, 'ttebayo!") kept flickering towards him. She also kept twiddling her index fingers and Naruto wondered if she was sun burnt by the way her cheeks flared red.

"Lady Hinata." A sharp voice spoke and called for the attention of the black-haired beauty. "It is time to go back. Your father has an appointment with the President of Sunagakure."

Naruto watched as a boy with chocolate-brown hair emerged from the gazebo and walked down the small three steps to reach the edge of the pool. He too had the same pale lavender eyes. Hinata blinked and turned around.

"R-right," she stuttered and began to wade out of the pool. She held her hands close to her chests as she stepped out of the pool. Naruto watched the boy glare up at him. The blonde grimaced and quickly kept his eyes elsewhere. He could spare a pounding for today, especially after the recent pounding tantrum Sasuke had gave him after the Uchiha had found out he was working at the kiddie pool today.

Now that the family who had rented the VIP section was gone, Naruto was free to leave his shift early. It was nearing lunch, and today Sasuke and he worked for only the morning shift of the day.

Naruto climbed down from the lifeguard post and began to pick up the used towels and threw them down the laundry chute. After locking up the gate that section off the VIP Pool, Naruto began to trek towards the opposite end of the amusement park.

"Sasuke!" Naruto called out as he entered the overly-populated section. "Shift's almost over!" He muffled his laughter with his hand as he watched the scowling Uchiha climb down from the lifeguard post; the only place where no little kids was able to bother him. The stupid Teme even had his knees to his chest. Pft, what a coward.

"I hope you're happy," Sasuke snapped as he brushed past Naruto. The blonde rolled his eyes at Sasuke's sour attitude, but followed suit.

As the two clocked out and entered the employee's changing room, Naruto happily chattered to one of their co-worker about some "hot babe" he saw in the VIP section of the pool. That damn Dobe and his stupid dibs.

"Yo, Sasuke. I was thinking we could check out the street fair today."

"No."

"Aw, why not?" Naruto whined. Sasuke rolled his eyes and tugged on his grey tee.

"They have that every week and they always sell the same things. There's nothing to do there." His response was automatic, considering this happened every time Naruto tried to convince him to go.

"Oh come on, Teme. There are lots to do there!" Naruto grinned wolfishly as he grabbed Sasuke and draped his arm around his neck. "We can have ramen, go to the arcade, have more ramen, maybe eat some dango, hang out at the manga store, waste money at the arcade again, and have some cotton candy – plenty to do! And did I mention they have ramen there?"

"Yes. Twelve thousand times," Sasuke drawled and removed Naruto's arm from his shoulder. He then proceeded to tug on his Converse, lacing them up and tucking the shoe lace inside the shoe. Naruto laughed.

"Alright! It's settled! We're going to the street fair!" Naruto cheered loudly while punching his fist into the air. Sasuke sighed and rolled his eyes. He nonetheless followed his loud-mouthed friend out of the water park and stepped into the blazing hot sun.

After a quick lunch at the ramen stand and buying the Dobe frozen yogurt in order to shut him up, the two friends were currently browsing around the manga tent. Naruto immediately went to the action genre side, mumbling something about ninjas. On the other hand, Sasuke sighed and waited by the tent entrance. One of the bad things about street fairs in Suna had to be the intense heat that seemed to follow you everywhere you went.

"God damn, it's fucking hot!" Sasuke's obsidian eyes flickered away from his phone to the two girls who crowded around a wall of shojou manga.

"Tell me about it," the blonde snorted. Sasuke quirked a brow at their choice of clothing. Even with the tiny sundress on their bodies, it's a wonder how they don't feel drafts near their legs.

"C'mon, Teme. Let's go to the arcade. It's too hot." Even the humid air seemed to bring down Naruto's happy-go-lucky attitude. Thankfully for the two boys, there was an arcade right around the block, just far enough for the street fair to end and not far enough for them to collapse from heat stroke. They ran the rest of the way, both wanting to get out of the heat as soon as possible.

Upon opening the door, a burst of cold air wafted into their faces. Naruto even stuck his tongue out, eyes closed and blissfully enjoying the air-conditioned building.

"Too hot today, eh boys?" The store manager grinned as he looked up from wiping the prize counter. Ever since Sasuke and Naruto were seven, they would always visit this arcade at least three times a week. This was the place where they could just relax and forget about stressful things happening at home or at school.

"Yo! Old man! How ya been?" Naruto grinned and leaned across the counter to give Kazuya a hug.

"Arcade's been lonely without the two of you brats hollering and yapping around!" Kazuya's laughter was loud and joyous. Sasuke smirked as Kazuya nodded towards Sasuke. "Sasuke! Still the same old quiet one, eh?" He left the counter and walked over towards Sasuke to stage whisper in his ear. "Keeping Naruto outta trouble?"

Sasuke scoffed, smirk still in place. "As if you can tame the idiot."

"Oi! Take that back!" Naruto raged at Sasuke even though there was a cheeky grin on his whiskered face as well.

"That's my boys!" Kazuya laughed and grabbed the two boys in a headlock. Naruto and Sasuke protested, but let the older man ruffle their hair.

"Ne, ne! How about a hundred free tokens?" Naruto grinned and swiped at his nose with his thumb.

"What? A hundred for what!"

"Just think of it as a present to us for coming to visit you," Sasuke drawled.

"Sasuke, my boy! You've been hanging around Naruto too much! He's infecting ya." Kazuya shook his head, but unlocked one of the familiar cabinets to retrieve a cup of tokens.

"Tch. The Dobe already infected me long before." Sasuke shook his head as well, but nodded thanks as he collected the cup of tokens. Sasuke vaguely remembered how Kazuya would keep a few cups of tokens in the same old cabinet just in case the Naruto and he stopped by.

"Shut up, Teme." Naruto grabbed the cup and walked over to one of the claw machines. "I'm going to beat your sorry ass later when we race!"

Kazuya chuckled and leaned on the counter. "Same old Naruto. You two have fun now. There ain't too many people right now, so Ima take my lunch break." With that, he disappeared into the employee's room. Sasuke stuffed his hands in his pocket and walked over to Naruto.

**xxxx**

"Oh, fuck!" Ino groaned and face palmed as her avatar was once again shot and killed. The big screen in front of her blacked out before the phrase "GAME OVER. CONTINUE?" flashed in loud letters. "Screw this game," she mumbled as she replaced the fake gun back into the holster. She shot the screen a look as the countdown to feed the machine more tokens taunted her.

"Face it, Pig. You suck at this game." Sakura laughed and grabbed the cup of tokens they had bought. "We have like only four dollars worth of tokens left. Wanna use it for DDR?" She smiled and shook the cup, the tokens jumping around.

Ino shrugged. "Sure. At least I know I can beat you at that."

"You're on!" Sakura scoffed and ran ahead to the Dance Dance Revolution machine.

The roseate fed the machine the remaining four dollars and began to set up the game. Sakura knew Ino was good at this game, and she sort of wanted to beat her in it. Of all the times the two had played at Ino's house, Sakura had always lost by barely ten points or less. She quickly scrolled through the song list and chose a fast, upbeat song. Then came the difficulty settings: hard for the both of them.

"Wait. Hit expert for me. I want to try this." Ino smirked as Sakura rolled her eyes and fixed the difficulty level for her.

**xxxxx**

"Oh damn! What the hell!" Naruto suddenly stopped walking, causing Sasuke to bump into him. The raven-haired boy scowled, taking a step back. "Sasuke, look at them go!" Naruto whistled lowly as he continued to watch the scene in front of him.

"Hn?" Curious as ever, Sasuke peaked behind his friend to find two girls dancing their asses off in a friendly game of DDR. Or well, not so friendly.

"Hah! I beat you! Again!" A familiar blonde screamed and jumped up and down as the song faded out. "I am Ino Yamanaka! The queen of DDR! No one can stop me!" Laughs escaped her as she stepped down from the platform and tugged her wedges back onto her feet.

"Shut up! I demand a rematch!" A roseate girl glowered at the machine as she adjusted the headband on her head. Sasuke quirked a brow as her fiery red lips caught his attention. The redness on her lips seemed to make her already pale skin glow even brighter than yesterday.

"They were from yesterday," Sasuke confirmed to himself. However, Naruto had heard him.

"Yeah! Let's go hang out with them!" Before Sasuke could protest, his hyper friend had dragged him over to the two girls. "Hiya! Do you girls remember us? We were the lifeguards from yesterday!" Naruto beamed as he laid his eyes on the blonde. She seemed even prettier than yesterday.

Sasuke sighed inwardly as he watched the two girls turn to face them. The blonde's eyes widened in excitement while her friend's eyes seemed to tell a different story. Her apple green eyes darted from Naruto to him, and if it was even possible, her eyes seemed to widen even more. Sasuke quirked a brow at her, and she seemed to cower behind her friend.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki! And emotard over there is my best friend, Sasuke Uchiha. What are your names?"

"Ino Yamanaka. She's Sakura Haruno." Sasuke couldn't help but notice the evil glint in her eyes. "You were the one who saved Sakura yesterday, right?" Ino began to trek over to Sasuke. She tilted her head and pursed her lips. If anything, she seemed to be running a scan on him to see if he was worthy enough to talk to. Sasuke narrowed his eyes at her. It might've been the heat from earlier, but he could've sworn he saw her lick her lips at him.

"Sasuke Uchiha," he muttered. Obsidian locked with baby blue. Neither of them seemed to want to back down first. There was something about this Yamanaka that he didn't like. Maybe it was the annoyance that seemed to radiate from her. Or maybe it was the fact that she was friends with this Sakura girl. Or maybe it was the evil glint that definitely screamed 'I-have-an-evil-and-wicked-plan'.

"Hey, Naruto. You dance? Let's dance." Ino grabbed Naruto's arm (who stared at her like she was insane for making such a bold statement) and dragged him over to the DDR machine. She grabbed his cup of coins and began to insert them into the machine. "Hey Sak! Go hang out with Uchiha! Uzumaki and I are busy here!"

Oh, it was definitely the evil glint in her eyes that Sasuke hated.

**xxxxxx**

"So how about that outside heat, huh?" Sakura laughed nervously as she kept her eyes on the screen in front of her. They were currently sitting on one of the car games in the arcade, both silent and awkward.

"Hn." Sasuke kept his eyes on the screen in front of him as well. Sakura sighed and dug her hand into her pants pocket and pulled out a crumbled dollar bill.

"Wanna race?" she smiled warmly and showed the bill to her silent companion. Sasuke glanced at the money in her hand and stood up. He reached into his own pants pocket and sported four coin tokens. Sakura watched silently as he fed his machine two coins and then Sakura's with the remaining coins. "Thanks," she mumbled.

"Hn." Gosh, was there anything else this kid said besides grunting? Sakura discreetly rolled her eyes as she got ready to race him. A few seconds into the game and she found out how good Sasuke was at this game. She, on the other hand, wasn't that great and was in seventh place at the moment.

"So, do you live here?" Sakura asked awkwardly. She glanced at Sasuke out of the corner of her eyes. He was concentrated on the game, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration.

"Aa," he murmured in response as he changed the position with his stick shift. Sakura focused her attention back to her screen, not knowing what else to say. How on earth was she supposed to reply to one word replies?

"You like _We The Kings_?" This question surprised her.

"Um, yeah. I do. They're actually my favorite band. I got this shirt when Ino and I went to see them last summer."

"What's your favorite song?"

"…Pardon?" So she was actually having a conversation with Sasuke. Okay, this was sort of weird. First he was giving her one answer replies, and now they were actually conversing?

"What's your favorite WTK song?" The race finished with Sasuke in first place (big surprise! Not really) and Sakura in fourth place (okay, this really was a surprise to her).

"Oh. I like _We'll Be A Dream_." Her lips curled into a small smile. She remembered when Ino and she had been so obsessed with the song.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted softly. He too, had been a fan of that song. Sakura leaned back in her chair as she took in the scene surrounding her. Her eyes then caught sight of a claw machine that had stuffed penguins in it.

"Hey, Sasuke?"

"What?"

"You don't happen to have any more tokens on you, do you?" Sasuke stared at Sakura, and she stared back with what she hoped was a cute and innocent face. He sighed.

**xxxxxxx**

Sasuke didn't quite understand how he got stuck with treating the girls and Naruto to dinner. Maybe he wouldn't have mind treating the girls, but why Naruto? Why was _he _stuck paying for Naruto'smeal as well? And just his luck that Naruto had suggested going to a stupid fancy and expensive sushi restaurant as well. Sasuke glared at the menu in front of him.

"Oh lighten up, Teme. You're looking at the menu like it hit you in the balls or something." Naruto rolled his eyes.

"You're not the one paying for four fifty dollar meals," Sasuke snapped back. Ino covered her snort by taking a sip of her water.

"I'll pay for half," Sakura offered. Naruto and Sasuke turned to look at her. She blinked. "What?"

"Hn. You don't have to pay," Sasuke muttered and took a sip of water. Naruto snorted.

"Yeah, yeah. Make me pay you back while you treat a pretty girl. I get it." His expression was sour, but deep within those cerulean eyes was a wicked gleam. He shut up when Sasuke oh-so-subtly kicked him underneath the table. Behind Sakura's water glass was a hidden smile.

"So you boys live here?" Ino asked, changing the subject.

"You bet! Our parents are friends, believe it or not, so we sorta moved to Suna together."

"Where did you guys used to live then?"

"Konoha," Sasuke answered.

"Hey! We're from Konoha!" Ino grinned and smacked the palms of her hands on the table, earning a few disapproving looks from dining neighbors.

"Seriously? That's amazing! But what are two pretty girls doing here in Suna all alone?" Naruto scratched his head and waved over a nearby waiter.

"We're on a mission," Ino said rather seriously. Naruto's azure eyes widened while Sasuke quirked a brow and Sakura sighed. "We're on a mission to complete a list of things to do before summer break ends. Forehead and I are going to attend Konohaversity*****."

"We're going there too," Sasuke murmured.

"That's awesome!" Sakura commented with a delicate smile. Maybe this Sasuke guy wasn't so bad after all. "Hey, wouldn't it be great if we all took like the same classes or something?"

"I'll pass," Sasuke scoffed. Okay, so maybe Sakura will take back what she said. She discreetly made a face when he wasn't looking. Ino saw and choked back a snort.

"So where are you two headed next?" Ino and Sakura shared a smile.

"Wherever our heart takes us," Sakura responded before bursting into laughter along with Ino. Naruto and Sasuke quirked a brow at their actions.

"Just kidding. We're going to go in a circle. Most likely Amegakure next. I heard their clubs are exclusive." Ino smirked.

"They're also outdoor clubs, which means you'll be dancing out in the open. If you ever even been to Ame, you'd know that it rains even in the summertime." Sasuke informed the two girls, keeping his eyes on his phone.

"Someone's got a stick shoved up their ass," Ino muttered under her breath. Sasuke's left eye twitched.

"Ne, Sasuke. Wouldn't it be fun if we joined them?" Naruto nudged his friend. Sakura and Ino cast a glance at each other. Boys? On _their _summer road trip? Before Sakura could open her mouth to deject Naruto's idea, Ino beat her to it.

"Hey, I'm game." Sakura glared at Ino who responded with a shrug. "If it means more company, I'm all game."

"Alright!"

"What..?" Sasuke and Sakura flashed each other looks as the same word came out of their mouths at the same time.

"We can't. We have jobs," Sasuke hissed.

"No problem, Teme! We get out of work in like two days! Can you wait for us then?" Naruto grinned and grabbed Sasuke in a headlock.

"Sorry, we can't. We don't wait for people, even if they are cute boys." Ino shrugged and smiled innocently. Naruto pouted.

"Laaaaame," he commented with a huff. He was like a little kid, Sakura thought with a small smile. Fun to hang around with as well. He was like a ball of sunshine. Maybe summer might not be this bad if there were someone as fun as Naruto or as mysterious but genuine as Sasuke.

* * *

***Failed attempt at naming a University. /shot**


	5. Chapter 4: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

**Title:** Summer's Tangled In Your Hair

**Summary:** AU. "Ino, I think I'll take you up on the summer road trip offer."

In which Sakura and Ino take a road trip and complete their list of things to do without a care in the world.

**Rating:** T/PG-13

**Pairing(s):** sasusaku, very minor naruino

**Disclaimer: Naruto and associated characters are not a property of mine. I just merely own the plot of this story.**

* * *

{_**C**_hapter _**4**_: _**G**_irls _**J**_ust _**W**_anna _**H**_ave _**F**_un}

_"That's all they really want - some fun. When the working day is done, girls  
just wanna have fun."_

_-Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, Cyndi Lauper_

**x**

"They really weren't kidding when they said it rained even in the summer." The curtain Ino was holding in her hand dropped as she twirled around and padded to one of the Queen sized beds in the hotel room the two girls were currently occupying.

"Tell me about it," Sakura mumbled as she flipped through the television channels.

When the two girls were one hour away from reaching the borderline to Amegakure, it had begun to rain. And it wasn't just raining normally, but it was raining cats and dogs. By the time the two girls pulled into their hotel parking structure and ran inside the lobby, they were pretty much drenched from only the 1 minute run to the lobby.

"This bites," Ino groaned and flopped face-first into the bed. "I want to go clubbing!"

"Chill out, Pig. We're here for three days. We have plenty of time to go clubbing. That is, if the rain ever lets up," Sakura said and slid off her bed. She raked her hair into a ponytail and rummaged through her duffel bag.

"I'm going to shower first."

"Don't use up all the hot water!"

"You got it, Piggy!" Sakura giggled and slammed the bathroom door shut.

"I mean it, Sakura!" Ino whined, but apparently her companion wasn't able to hear her through the sound of hot water running.

**xx**

A lukewarm shower later ("I'm showering first tomorrow!") and the two girls were refreshed and ready to dress for dinner.

"I'm thinking fast food," Sakura grinned as her stomach grumbled quite loudly. She poked her stomach and sighed. She could go for golden crisp fries and a rich milkshake right about now.

"Who's the piggy now?" Ino grouched, still a little bitter about the lack of hot water when it was her turn to clean up. Sakura ignored her and combed her pink tangled locks. "What do you think about lobster tonight?"

"Sounds pretty darn good," Sakura admitted. "Actually, anything sounds good right about now."

"Great! Get dressed in something nice. We'll be out in ten!" Ino grinned and picked out her clothes. As she passed Sakura, she smacked her butt. "Hurry! I'm starving, Forehead." Sakura rolled her eyes and shuffled through her luggage for something semi-formal.

Two minutes later, Sakura had tossed aside her warm pajamas and was now wearing a black stretch fit cotton dress with a crisscross back feature. Sakura grinned and twirled in front of the full-length mirror that hung in the closer. She was glad that she had picked up this cute dress back in Suna. Since Sakura's hair was naturally wavy, she decided to leave it down. Winged eyeliner and a smear of nude lipstick later, Sakura was ready.

Ino emerged from the bathroom right on time as well. And of course, Sakura once again found herself quite envious of Ino. The blonde was wearing an electric blue floral piped crop top that ended right above her belly button. Not only was the crop eye-catching, but it also enhanced Ino's curves. On the bottom, Ino wore a sheer black high-low skirt so that her top would catch most of the attention. For hair, Ino just blew it straight. Sakura liked how the blue in her hair matched her top. As for makeup, Ino decided to only focus on heavy coats of mascara, line her eyes with kohl, and borrow Sakura's red lipstick.

"Good. The rain let up a little for us to leave." Sakura smiled as she lazily fingered on black sandals and stared out the window.

"Nope. We're just dining in the hotel, Sakura dear." Ino winked at Sakura's confused face.

"There was no restaurant when we came in."

"Just follow me." Ino tightened her strappy brown sandals and the two girls were ready to leave the room.

"Oh shit, my dad's calling me. What do I do?" Sakura bit her lip as she showed Ino her vibrating phone.

"Um, answer it! I don't know!" Ino's eyes widened, as she stared helplessly back at her friend. They can't be caught yet! They had only traveled to two cities so far, and Ino hadn't even gotten much shopping done yet!

Sakura groaned and answered the call. "Hi daddy!" she chirped, hoping to sound innocent.

"Hello, my cherry blossom. Just calling to check in with you. How's the trip so far?"

"Oh, it's going great so far, daddy." Sakura swatted Ino's hand away from her ear. The blonde puffed up her cheeks at her friend's uninviting gesture.

"That's great, honey. Where have you visited so far?"

"Speakerphone!" Ino hissed as the two girls entered the elevator.

"What was that? Can you repeat yourself, dear?"

"Oh, no. That was just Ino being... er, Ino." Sakura glared at Ino, who returned her glare with a smug smile.

"Oh! Say hello to Ino for me will you?"

"Hello Mr. Haruno! You're on speakerphone, if you don't mind."

"Hello there, Ino. How's Deidara? You know, I was a bit surprised that your brother hadn't invited Sasori along the trip. Did the two boys get into a fight?" Sakura's mouth snapped open, and she stared at Ino, who was giving the phone a sour look as if it had betrayed her.

"I, uh," Ino stammered and shot Sakura a desperate look. Sakura in return shrugged and beckoned for her to answer her father's question.

'What do I say?!' Ino mouthed.

'Anything! Just stay something!' Sakura mouthed back in a panicked state.

"You girls still there?"

"Yeah, daddy, we are. We're in the elevator right now so the signal isn't too great," Sakura responded, trying to buy the two of them some time.

"Right, did my call interrupt something?"

"Oh, we were just on our way to dinner, Mr. Haruno."

"Of course. It is getting pretty late. Where are you two girls again?"

"We're in Amegakure." Sakura sighed inwardly, relieved that they were able to change the subject.

"Right. Well I just wanted to call in and check up on you three kids. I'm sorry for interrupting your fun."

"No worries, daddy."

"Well, you three kids have a nice dinner. I'll talk to you soon. Love you, Sak."

"Love you too, daddy!" Sakura quickly ended the call and scoffed as she turned to face Ino.

"That was close."

"I'll say!" Sakura spat out angrily. Ino just shrugged as the elevator dinged and the doors slid open to reveal the lobby. "Come on, let's just go eat. I think I lost my appetite after that phone call," Sakura muttered as she led the way out. Ino took the lead and strutted to the concierge table.

"Hi, we heard that there's actually an exclusive five star restaurant here. I was wondering if you could be gracious enough to direct us to where it's located in."

"Of course, Miss. If you two ladies would follow me." The well-dressed man smiled and walked around the table. He looked around the slightly empty lobby and smiled once again as he held open the door that let workers sit behind the check-in tables.

Sakura didn't know if it had to do with the mystery books she loved reading, but she was slightly suspicious and cautious. Ino, the on the other hand, was excited. She covered her mouth and let out a muffled squeal as she followed the man without hesitance. Sakura shook her head and sighed. If this was a mystery novel, Ino would've been the first one to get killed. However, the coral-haired beauty nervously grabbed her friend's hand and followed closely behind.

Now behind the check-in counters, there was a wall that was made of a huge fish tank. Inside it were a variety of colorful fishes, jellyfish and seahorses included as well as corals and seashells that adorned the tank. Sakura didn't know how Amegakure had managed to find these tropical fish, but she did have to give them props to being able to maintain such a wonderful sight for tourists that visited the hotel.

"Just enter that door and you should be all set to have a wonderful dinner." Ino thanked the man and dragged Sakura to a door that stood at the end of the fish tank.

"What if we get shot once we go in?" Sakura asked as she pulled Ino to a halt. Ino rolled her baby blue eyes and swiped her hair out of her face.

"Oh Sakura. You have got to stop reading those books of yours. If you're really that scared, I'll give you basic information about how I found out about this restaurant hiding in the hotel of Amegakure."

"Yeah, that'd actually be nice, you know?" Sakura retorted.

"Remember when we were at Wal-Mart a few days ago?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Shh. Let me finish. Anyways, before I proposed to you the idea of our magnificent road trip, I picked up a travel magazine that talked about the best places to be in every city."

"That's why you took so long getting the coffee?"

"Wow if you're just going to interrupt me I might as well just not tell you at all," Ino huffed. Sakura snorted and motioned for the blonde to continue with her story.

"So I read through a few articles and I found out about this place and I just knew that we had to visit this place before we go off to college. And then I thought 'well why not just add that to our road trip?' and bam! Here we are now." Ino grinned proudly.

"You really are something, Ino Yamanaka." Sakura shook her head and laughed. "Whatever, let's just go then. There better be lobster, and if there isn't you're paying."

"Oh, there is. Feast your eyes on one of the most exclusive five star restaurants there is in the world!" Ino turned the doorknob and pushed open the door to reveal another room with dim lighting. Sakura's eyes narrowed, but she took a step through the door. She paused, but Ino pushed her the rest of the way through so she could close the door behind them.

"Wow, you really weren't kidding." Sakura whistled as she drank in the scene before her. There actually was a restaurant that rivaled the size of the actual hotel lobby itself.

"Told you." Ino stuck out her tongue playfully and went to reserve a table for the both of them. In the meantime, Sakura was having an awfully wonderful time observing the detailing and design of the restaurant.

The restaurant itself had one main dining room with four other doorways that lead to more private rooms that could be rented for private dining. Instead of boring light bulbs that lit up the room, the ceiling actually held wire string with mason jars filled with freshly lit candles which gave off a romantic vibe. There was also a grand crystal chandelier in the center of the ceiling to help with the lighting. If you listened carefully through the subtle chatter of the diners, there was the sweet, calming adagio that came from the grand piano and the pianist prodigy located in the middle of the main dining room.

"Is this not the best place you've seen?" Ino asked as she joined Sakura.

"Would be better if we had dates," Sakura commented jokingly. Ino giggled and looped her arm around Sakura's.

"We don't need boys to make our night fun. As long as we got money and a girl's night out." Ino grinned as the server led the two girls to a vacant table near the piano.

"You're making me pay, aren't you, Pig?" Sakura deadpanned as she flipped open the menu.

"How'd you know?" Ino asked happily as she cracked open her menu as well.

"You're my best friend. How could I not know? Besides, you're getting predictable. Especially when it comes to money."

**xxx**

After Sakura's tummy was happily filled (the steamed lobster with melted butter was heavenly and the tiramisu cake to die for), she reluctantly forked over her credit card and paid the bill. At least Ino didn't buy the most expensive item on the menu, Sakura noted bitterly as she signed her signature with a flourish.

"I guess we won't be able to hit the club tonight," Ino sighed unhappily as they entered the elevator. It was still raining ridiculously hard outside, and to be honest, Ino didn't think the rain would ever let up at all during their entire stay. "Oh shoot, someone's calling me," Ino mumbled as she rummaged through her purse for her phone. As she looked at the caller ID, she let out a surprised squeak.

"What's wrong, Pig?" Sakura asked. She looked over the blonde's shoulder and sucked in a breath. It was Ino's father calling.

"Shit shit shit shit shit!" Ino cursed, but answered the call anyways.

"Hey dad," Ino sang shakily as she put the call on speakerphone.

"Don't you 'hey dad' me, Ino Yamanaka! What the hell were you thinking, just leaving on a road trip without telling your mom or me?!"

"Okay that's not fair. I left you guys a note stating where Sakura and I were going."

"Are you trying to be a smartass with me? Wait, you took Sakura with you? The Haruno kid?"

Ino rolled her eyes as Sakura stifled a giggle. "Daaaaad! Of all things to ask, did you seriously just ask me if I took Sakura with me? Dad, come on! Sakura's my best friend. Of course I would take her with me!" Ino scoffed and turned to look at Sakura. "My dad's getting old," she groaned.

"Ino! I demand for you to be home right this instant! And Sakura! I hope your father knows what you're doing!"

"Oh, he does, Mr. Yamanaka. He knows that I went on a road trip with your daughter."

"Dad, listen to me. Dad! I'm almost eighteen. I think I deserve a little freedom, don't you think?"

"Ino –"

"No, dad, listen to me first. Hear me out, please. Dad, I know you still think of me as your little girl, but I'm almost eighteen, and I'm going to college this upcoming fall. Don't you think you should give me a little more trust? I'm still your little girl, but this little girl wants to live a little before she gets thrown back into school when the fall semester begins. I promise Sak and I will be safe."

"No boys?"

"Wha – Dad!" Ino groaned, and this time, Sakura actually did laugh out loud. "Do you see what I have to deal with at home? Not only is he my dad, but he's also a freaking detective in the police department!" Ino ranted to Sakura.

"No boys?" Ino's dad repeated again, and Ino answered him.

"Oh daddy dear you know you're still number one, but girls just wanna have fun!" Ino smiled as she heard her father sigh on the other end of the line.

"Condoms if you do decide to have sex and your mother and I want an update for every city you two girls go to."

"Dad!" Ino shrieked, quite embarrassed. Her face turned scarlet at her father's witty remark.

"Have a safe trip, dear." With that said, he hung up.

"I am going to kill him when I get back home!" Ino snarled as the elevator dinged and the doors slid open to their floor.

"Dude, your dad's hilarious," Sakura laughed and walked ahead to find their room.

Ino just snorted and ran to catch up with the roseate. "Not if you have to live with him."

As soon as Sakura unlocked their door, Ino sighed tiredly and flung her sandals to the side. "I'm beat. I want to knock out."

"It's only eleven. Don't tell me you're getting old, Piggy!" Sakura teased her friend and stripped out of her dress. She pulled on her pajamas and went to brush her teeth in the bathroom.

"Well what else can we do while we're stuck in a hotel room?" Ino called out as she, too, undressed and dressed in a pair of sweats and a tank top.

* * *

**xxxx**

_6. Stay up all night watching chick flicks with Piggy!_ **(Don't we do this like every week?)** _(Hah! No big deal.)_

* * *

"No no no no!" Sakura shrieked and covered her face with her hands. Ino, who was sitting next to her, rolled her eyes.

"Are you seriously afraid of this stuff, Forehead?"

"I hate you. You know I get scared easily!" The two girls were currently sitting in front of the television watching a horror movie on Netflix. Sakura shivered as she peaked through her fingers and watched as one of the main characters in the film get slaughtered into a bloody and gory mess. Ino tapped Sakura's shoulder, who turned to look at her.

"Boo!" Ino grinned and wiggled her fingers in front of Sakura, who narrowed her eyes in return.

"Ah, scary," Sakura spat out sarcastically. Ino just laughed and shook her head. She averted her attention from Sakura and the movie and reached for her vibrating phone. Her baby blue eyes lit up as she read the text message she received.

"Who is it?" Sakura asked, viridian eyes curious as ever.

"No one; don't worry about it." Ino responded half-heartedly as she texted back. Sakura pouted, but averted her attention back to the film.

At two-thirty in the morning, Sakura was finally asleep, head on Ino's lap and her legs tucked close to her body. Ino sighed and smiled at her friend. She reached down and pushed the hair away from Sakura's mouth. It was quiet times like these where Ino truly thought her best friend was still the same naïve Sakura she had met back in first grade. It was also times like these where Ino was able to actually think and reminisce about their friendship and be grateful to have Sakura by her side.

Ino's phone vibrated once again, so the blonde pulled her hand away from Sakura and picked up her phone.

"We're outside." Ino mouthed the words, and her lips curled into a delicate smile. She gently removed Sakura's head from her lap and slowly got up. She stretched a little, hearing her spine pop, and padded to the door. She peaked through the eyehole and unlocked the door.

"You're here," she whispered warmly.

* * *

**Here's to summer 2013 and hoping to actually finish this summer series this time. Woop woop.  
**


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